Bullet Hole
by EmbraceLove
Summary: Seth fired the first shot. Now Dean's on a mission to find out why. Spoilers for 3/3/14 RAW.


_A/N: __First Shield fic. I tried really hard to write them in character, so please, be gentle._

Dean seethed as he stomped his way through the backstage area. He had one thought on his mind at the moment, and one thought only: kicking Seth's ass. Dean couldn't believe that Seth had denied him the tag when he needed it. Dean had worked with numerous people in his career, and out of all the people that he had thought would eventually turn on them, Seth was the one person he had never envisioned betraying him.

Dean didn't know what Seth's problem was. For weeks, he'd been acting particularly strange around Dean and Roman, and neither of them could ascertain exactly what Seth's problem was. Roman was shocked by the way Seth had acted tonight; Dean was pissed. At first, he'd been too shocked to really think about anything, as Roman had, but the more Dean thought about it, the angrier he became. Roman told Dean that he was more than welcome to try to talk to Seth and see where his head was at, because Roman couldn't do it. Dean understood why—Roman and Seth had always been closer than Seth and Dean, and especially so the last couple of months. It was no secret that the big Samoan man had grown to care for Seth, and it was obvious that Seth felt the same way. Dean wasn't involved in their business, so he really couldn't care less. He just did what was expected of him and worried about his own business.

What Seth did, however, fell squarely into that category, and Dean was going to get some answers out of Seth even if it killed him. He wasn't worried about finesse or how he was going to approach Seth. He was only concerned with figuring out what the hell had crawled up Seth's ass.

Dean was surprised to find Seth in the locker room, bent over his bag, with earbuds in his ears. Was this motherfucker for real? He was sitting there acting as if he hadn't just left his teammate hanging in the ring. Dean didn't even think; he just reached forward and yanked the buds out of Seth's ear. Seth looked up in surprise, as if to say something, until he realized that it was Dean standing in front of him.

"What the hell was that out there?" Dean growled.

Seth dropped his eyes to the ground, too ashamed to answer. He knew that he'd stepped over the line by abandoning his teammates, but he wasn't going to apologize for his actions. He'd done what he thought he needed to do. He was tired of being shoved to the side and overlooked by everyone.

"What, you're not gonna answer me? You're not gonna tell me why you lost your balls and left me hanging like that? What's wrong, Seth, you scared? Are you scared of me?" Dean inched closer to Seth. Instinctively, Seth shrunk back in a protective manner. He hated it when people invaded his personal space, and Dean knew that. But at the moment, Dean couldn't care less if Seth felt uncomfortable or not.

Dean reached out and gave Seth's beard a good tug, eliciting a low growl from Seth. Dean ignored it.

"That's a nice beard," he observed. "It's gettin' long, kinda like Bray's." Dean cocked his head.

"You gonna join the Wyatts, Seth? Are you gonna follow the buzzards?"

Seth didn't answer. He couldn't; Dean wasn't giving him the option to talk. He could do nothing but stare at the other man blankly, his mouth half-open, as Dean continued to ramble.

"Do you think they can take care of you the way me and Ro do? Do you think they care about you? You would be just another pawn in Bray's game."

"Dean, it's not like that, man—"

Dean cut him off. He dragged a hand down his face and glared at Seth with disdain.

"If you wanna be Bray Wyatt's little bitch, go ahead. I'm not gonna stop you. Me and Ro don't need you anyway. We can take care of this on our own. That's what you want, isn't it? Huh?"

"That's _not _what I want!" Seth snapped, tired of not being able to talk. "That has nothing to do with this, Dean? Don't you get it, man? We're coming apart at the seams! We've been at each other's throats for weeks, and I'm sick of it! I'm sick of being the glue that holds this team together! I'm sick of listening to you and Roman bicker and fight!"

"So you thought you'd stab me in the back because you're pissed off? Yeah, I get it, you're sick of it all. You're sick of us. So do somethin' about it." Dean was chest to chest with Seth now, looking down at him with a sneer.

Seth sighed. It didn't matter what he said; Dean clearly already had his mind made up. He truly believed that Seth had done this to hurt him, and that wasn't the case. Seth acted on impulse because he was angry. He'd let his temper get the best of him, and he regretted it now.

"I'm not going to fight with you, Dean." His voice was weary. "I don't wanna fight."

"You don't wanna fight? You serious?"

"I said I was sorry, Dean." Seth said through gritted teeth.

"And you think sorry's gonna cut it? I thought we were brothers, Seth."

Dean was purposely goading Seth into engaging in all out fisticuffs. Seth knew this, and although it would be so easy to give Dean what he wanted, Seth wasn't going to. He was tired of fighting, tired of being overlooked and ignored, tired of Dean pushing him around all the time, tired of everything. Every man has his breaking point, and Seth had finally reached his. He didn't want this to spell the end for The Shield, but maybe a breakup was the best for all of them. They were all accomplished wrestlers, with loads of talent. There was no question that they would all achieve success as singles wrestlers, if given the chance to show what they were made of individually.

For almost two years, they had proven that they were a force to be reckoned with, but somewhere along the way, Seth started to feel like he was just a bit player in the team. Roman had tried his best to disquiet those thoughts, and Dean had outright told Seth that he was stupid for thinking it, but they still nagged and nagged at Seth. Maybe in his subconscious, he'd thought that Dean and Roman didn't believe in him.

Seth didn't know what to think or how to respond to Dean. He didn't trust himself not to say something hurtful or to lash out at Dean, so he took a step back and held a hand up.

"I need to talk to Roman." Before Dean could say anything, Seth exited the room, leaving Dean standing there in anger and confusion.

_Do you believe in The Shield? _Seth found himself asking. Even more surprising was the thought that followed it.

_I don't know anymore._


End file.
